Monday, August 04, 2003
In a review of recent incentive deals, two economists conclude that recruitment incentives tend to make sense from a local perspective.
They suggest that offering incentives to large manufacturers pays off for local governments through wage increases and higher property values. They also see a slight increase in education spending. Their paper generally refutes the notion that granting incentives to manufacturers damages the financial health of local governments.
The paper -- Bidding for Industrial Plants: Does Winning a 'Million Dollar Plant' Increase Welfare? by Michael Greenstone and Enrico Moretti -- examines the impact of the "million dollar plants" highlighted in each issue of Site Selection magazine.
(Their conclusions do not imply that incentives make sense from a national perspective, though.)
Some Background on EDPro Weblog
The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it.
One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information.
If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site:
Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber:
Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development
As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking.
Background on Ed Morrison
Download some background information on me here.
Economists: Incentives work for large scale manufacturing
